Data storage devices (DSDs) are often used in a computer system or other type of electronic device to record data onto or to reproduce data from a recording media. One measure of performance of a DSD is the rate at which it can transmit data requested by the host back to the host. Although the transmission rate for a DSD may depend upon the particular bus standard used between the DSD and the host, increasing the rate at which data is transmitted to a host can improve overall system performance. In addition, some systems such as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) may include multiple DSDs sharing a common bus to a host. In such systems, increasing the transmission rate can improve resource sharing efficiency among the DSDs sharing the common pathway to the host.